Back here down on Earth
by saltedshotgun
Summary: Daphne finds a naked man on the river shore. Over time she falls in love with him and then the stranger takes him away and ruins everything. Coda to 7x17 The Born-Again Identity.


**Back here down on Earth  
**Castiel (Emmanuel), Daphne Allen, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester. (More gen than) mild Emmanuel/Daphne.  
**  
**_Summary:_ Daphne finds a naked man on the river shore. Over time she falls in love with him and then the stranger takes him away and ruins everything.  
_Notes:_ Coda to 7x17 The Born-Again Identity. Fic is unbeta'd, english is not my first language.  
_Disclaimer: _I only wish they were mine.

* * *

Daphne likes cold and chilly mornings, unlike many people. The freezing air helps her clean her mind, helps her concentrate better on her thoughts.

The river shore smells of wet leaves and to Daphne it smells like childhood and she's way back in her memories when she stumbles – literally stumbles - over something. Someone, to be more precise.

"Oh god," Daphne says, her voice pitched high. For a moment she fears she tripped over a dead body and her heart flutters in her chest like a dying bird – she has never seen a corpse in her life – lots of broken and needy people, yes, but never an actual dead body. She crawls over to the man who is lying on his stomach, obviously naked.

"Oh my god," she mutters again and tries to shake the man awake but flinches when she touches his shoulder and realizes how cold he is. "You're going to freeze to death," Daphne says and starts taking off her coat to cover the man.

Then he groans.

"Are you awake?" Daphne asks and her voice sounds so strained it surprises her. The man seems to be paying no attention to her whatsoever, only groans again and turns to his back.

"Don't move too much!" Daphne says and glances over his body to check for injuries, then quickly averts her eyes again, alsmot blushing and looks at the man's face.

"Where am I?" he says and his voice is so weak Daphne has to lean closer to him to hear.

"In Colorado," Daphne says and her eyebrows furrow, "don't you know how you got here?"

The man's eyes wander somewhere above Daphne's head and he blinks a few times before saying, "no."

"Alright, it's okay," Daphne says. She throws her coat over him and makes a few cooing noises. "That happens sometimes, it's gonna be alright."

The man only grunts again and Daphne pulls out her cell phone and calls 911. They promise to be there in few minutes and she hangs up, turning back to the man who's starting at the sky like it's a lifeline, like there's more to be seen than the naked human eye can perceive.

"What's your name?" Daphne asks and kneels next to the man again. He looks at her, draws his eyebrows together and then says, "I don't know."

"Alright," Daphne says and she's at loss for words now, "so - so, do you remember anything?"

The man stares at the sky again and then says, slowly, like it costs him a great deal of strenght, "no."

"It's alright," Daphne says again automatically, "you'll remember eventually. I'm sure they will help you."

Suddenly the man's whole body jerks, almost spasms and he looks at Daphne, grabbing at her forearm. "No," he breaths and his eyes look frantic and for the first time Daphne notices how blue they are. "No," he repeats, "I don't want to remember, I don't – "

"Shh," Daphne says and shakes her arm trying to get him to let go of her. His grip is strong but he's not hurting her and she's not scared even though she knows that maybe she should be. "You don't have to, okay? You don't."

She hears the sound of the sirens in the distance.

* * *

When the paramedics ask her who the man is she almost says, _'I don't know, I found him by the river,'_ but then she remembers his blue eyes and his voice begging her not let him remember. A little part of her screams to run and never look back, to forget all about the naked man on the shore but there's something in her saying that eyes as blue as his could never hide evil.

"It's - it's my friend," she says and adds, "David. He's, um, visiting, from Europe? He got a little bit drunk last night and early this morning he wandered out naked," she gives the paramedic a sheepish grin. "He's kind of a loose cannon," she says. "I found him passed out by the river, panicked and called 911."

The paramedic is nodding at what she's saying, so she continues. "But I think he's alright now, maybe you could just help me get him home?"

The paramedic keeps on nodding. "Yeah, we checked his vitals and he seems fine, actually."

"That's amazing, thank you," Daphne smiles at him and thinks, _'what exactly am I doing?'_

* * *

Daphne has no idea who she brought home, and neither does the man. She asks him about his name again, but he just shakes his head.

"Thank you for taking me in," he says, "it is very nice of you."

Daphne just nods. The man seems strange, alien almost, but for one reason or another she's not scared. She just let a complete stranger into her house and it feels safer with him around then ever before.

Daphne clears her throat. "So," she says, "maybe we should choose you a name. I said it was David, but I don't think you will like it much."

He looks at her. "Why do you think so?"

Daphne just shrugs. "You don't look like a David," she says simply. The man seems to ponder over it for a while and then shakes his head.

"I do not feel like a David," he says.

* * *

They browse internet web pages with various baby names in silence most of the time. The man uses the computer as if he's never seen one before, but he quickly manages and scrolls down the pages, stopping over few of the names as if they were familiar.

He stops at the name Anna before Daphne suggest they only look up boy's names, suddenly afraid he might take liking to a female name. He just nods.

He stops at names such as Azrael and Balthazar and other similiar names that Daphne knows belong to angels, and he hovers over the name Castiel for a particularly long time.

"Do you like it?" she asks him but he just shakes his head and scrolls past.

Another name he looks at for a longer period of time is Dean and Daphne finds it strange, because the man definitely looks more like a Castiel or maybe Balthazar than a Dean. She says nothing, though, willing to let the man decide on his own.

"This one," the man says after a while, his eyes fixed on the computer screen. Daphne looks over his shoulder.

"Emmanuel?" she asks. "It means... God is with us. So you are religious?"

"I don't know," he says.

"Do you believe in God?" Daphne asks and he looks at her.

"I don't think so," he says and sighs, looking at monitor again. "I just like this name."

"Alright. I'm kind of a buddhist myself, so..." Daphne smiles at him and runs her hand over his back. She can feel his muscles clench at the touch but he doesn't jerk away. "Emmanuel it is, then."

* * *

More often than not Daphne catches herself wondering about Emmanuel's past. She's now used to his name and even to his behavior that reminds her of a child sometimes, confused and eager to know. The one thing Emmanuel has no desire to know is his own past and Daphne thinks it's strange.

* * *

It's been a month since Daphne found Emmanuel by the river - drenched and confused and unclothed, as he nicely said himself – when he comes to Daphne with the desire to leave.

"I do not want to be a burden to you," he says, "I think it will be better if I left."

Daphne just shakes her head and grabs at Emmanuel's wrist. "I don't want you to leave," she says and he looks at her with his blue eyes and Daphne realizes she's drawn to him, that she _likes_ him. "I want you to stay," she says and steps closer to him, putting her arms around his waist. They stand unmoving for a moment, Daphne wrapped around Emmanuel who stands with his arms hanging by his body, but then he shifts and wraps his arms around her shoulders.

"You can't leave," she says, "I found you because someone wanted me to find you. _God_ wanted me to find you, so you can't leave."

"I thought you were a buddhist," Emmanuel says and Daphne chuckles.

* * *

Two months after Daphne let Emmanuel into her home, her best friend's little boy gets diagnosed with cancer. It's in advanced state, or developed state, or however the doctors call it – the fact is that it's too late for him.

Daphne and Emmanuel go to visit him to Daphne's friend's and her husband's house. All of her friends (and she doesn't have a lot of them) are used to Emmanuel's presence now and they are generally perceived as an item even though they never verbally stated so, not even to each other. Especially not to each other.

The boy is visibly ill, pale and thin under the blankets and Daphne remembers how she used to hold him when he was a baby and now he's only eight years old and dying.

"Hey, sweetie," she whispers, willing herself not to get too teary.

"Hey, aunt Daphne," the boy says, "hey, Emmanuel."

"Hello, Robert," Emmanuel says back, but he's frowning as if he's never witnessed the stench of someone dying in the air. Daphne shrugs it away, takes it as another unique treat of his and Emmanuel has plenty of those.

"How are you feeling?" she asks, focusing on the boy instead.

"Not too bad," the boy says, smiling up at her wearily, "just a little tired."

"That's good," Daphne says and her voice breaks a little on the second word.

Emmanuel takes a step closer towards the boy and leans over him, putting his palm over the boy's forehead. "Close your eyes and rest now. You will feel better when you wake up," he says and Daphne swears she can see a muted light from baneath Emmanuel's palm.

When Emmanuel pulls away the boy is fast asleep.

"What did you do?" Daphne asks.

"I don't know," Emmanuel answers and frowns at her. "I just acted on instinct."

"What instinct?" Daphne shakes her head. She knows now that the light she saw was only her imagination because you can't possibly shoot light out of your palms. Not even Emmanuel, who is a little walking wonder, can't.

"I don't know," Emmanuel repeats, his eyes fixed on the boy's face.

Two days later Daphne's friend calls, crying into the phone that her son is healthy, his cancer magically disappearing without a trace.

Daphne tells it to Emmanuel who only smiles a little and says, "I'm glad to hear that."

* * *

Daphne brings home a little kitten she found on the street. It's thin and bloody and nearly dead, and she hands it over to Emmanuel. "Can you heal it?" she asks.

Emmanuel frowns, looking at the little black cat resting in his palms. "Why do you think I have the ability?"

"You healed Rob, Emmanuel," Daphne says, "I really think you did. Don't you think so?"

Emmanuel is still watching the kitten. "Maybe," he says finally and closes his eyes, moving his palm to rest over the kitten. There's the light again, muted and white and golden, silvery, completely magical. Daphne lets out a breath and laughs softly.

"Emmanuel, that is – " she says and closes the distance between them, looking at the animal in Emmanuel's hands. The kitten is looking up at them, clean and healthy. "I don't – that is a miracle," Daphne says and lifts her eyes to look at Emmanuel.

"Yes," Emmanuel says, giving the kitten back to her.

"You can – " Daphne is speechless now, drowning in thoughts and emotions, "heal people, Emmanuel – that's amazing," she laughs, "you can help others."

"I would like that," Emmanuel says and smiles at her softly, a little sadly.

* * *

They try to keep it a secret, a little under the radar because they realize having the ability to heal people isn't exactly common. They often visit hospitals and Emmanuel relieves people of their pains and suffering, healing them slowly.

One patient realizes one day, an older lady with white hair and kind eyes, and thanks him.

"You healed me up," she says, "I know you did. I don't know how to thank you."

"I'm glad I could be of help," Emmanuel replies.

The word spreads fast after that.

* * *

People start calling, some come to their house. They bring money and food and family jewelery and offer it to Emmanuel. He always refuses all gifts, every payment and heals the people anyway. He never gets tired, it never takes anything out of him.

"You must be an angel," a woman tells him once, her voice breaking with repressed tears, after he healed her fifteen year old daughter.

"I'm just a person trying to help," Emmanuel says.

"Your wife is a very lucky woman," the woman says while clutching her sleeping daughter to her chest.

* * *

"Maybe we should get married," Emmanuel says one evening while Daphne's washing the dishes and she drops a plate into the sink. It shatters but Daphne pays it no mind and turns to face Emmanuel.

"Are you proposing to me?" she asks and Emmanuel frowns a little.

"Yes, I am," he says and Daphne lets out a breath.

"Alright," she says and stumbles over to the table, sits down and looks up at Emmanuel. "We aren't even dating," she says.

"But we live together," Emmanuel replies and looks genuinely confused. "You saved me, took care of me and we live together. Most people think we are married already and we never correct them," he says, "why couldn't we get married?"

_'What planet are you from',_ Daphne wants to ask but instead she just pursues her lips and even though she has no idea why, she agrees to it.

Maybe it's because she's in love with Emmanuel.

* * *

They cannot technically get married because Emmanuel has no official identity. Sometimes Daphne thinks it's stupid, the fact they never went to the police, but then she imagines them taking Emmanuel away and when he looks at her and tells her that _'it's going to be alright,'_ she believes him.

They have a little unofficial ceremony in Daphne's backyard – Emmanuel's backyard now, too – for family and friends and people pat her on the back.

"You sly dog," they tell her with a grin, "keeping this away from us for so long."

She just smiles at them and shrugs.

Emmanuel tells her she looks beautiful in the light purple dress she's wearing, not exactly a wedding robe but elegant enough. Daphne blushes and mumbles a quiet thank you.

They sleep in the same bed for the first time that night.

* * *

Emmanuel kisses her one afternoon.

They're sitting on the couch in the living room, their feet drawn up and touching. Daphne's reading a book while the radio is playing blues, the singer's wailing voice the only sound in the room beside their breathing.

Emmanuel suddenly leans over and presses his lips to Daphne's and shock runs through her – is it going to be good, is it going to be bad, messy or sweet, did Emmanuel forget how to kiss along with everything else?

It turns out he didn't.

* * *

The man breaks into her house while Emmanuel's visiting Ms MacDowell and her husband, both speaking with thick scottish accents that Emmanuel has seemingly no trouble understanding, unlike the rest of the neighborhood.

Daphne wonders if Emmanuel's healing Ms MacDowell's chronic back pain now (as he pefers to treat those problems slowly, carefully, making sure they disappear completely), while the man is tying her hands behind her back. He murmurs constantly, grinning at her and for a moment Daphne thinks his eyes are black.

"Where's your guy, kitty, where is he? Huh? Tell me and I won't hurt you, I promise."

Then the doorbell rings. The man jerks away, faster than any person should be able to, baring his teeth and growling like a wild animal. He turns to Daphne before heading for the door.

"You be a good girl and I won't hurt you."

He disappears behind the corner and Daphne can hear him talking to another man even over the pounding of her own blood in her ears while she trashes around.

She makes a quick eye-contact with the visitor through the living room window and sees a fast understanding flash over his face before her attacker's arms shoot towards him and smash him against the front door. She can hear the glass crack underneath the force of the shove. She stops trashing and listens but their voices are low and silent and then there's a maze of momevent and the man who attacked her falls down the stairs.

Her heartbeat is wild in her ears, almost painful. Suddenly, Emmanuel is there untying her, his hands hovering over her shoulders before he clutches at her forearms and pulls her up.

* * *

The man says it was a demon and that there are many of them walking among people. Daphne doesn't think much about it – Emmanuel says it will be alright and she trusts him.

* * *

The man who saved her introduces himself as Dean and stares at Emmanuel like he expected something else entirely, but Daphne pays it no mind. Many people admit that Emmanuel is far from their expectations – they think they will meet an old, white-haired and bearded man in a robe, not a middle aged suburban townie.

This man, however, looks like he has seen it all. Daphne prides herself in being able to read people very well – she can tell if they're good, evil, happy or broken, but Dean confuses her, his eyes significantly older than the rest of his face, hiding both good and evil, both happiness (altough very far away, hidden like childhood memories) and unbearable pain. It's in his posture, in his body language and his voice and it makes Daphne nervous.

Emmanuel, on the other hand, tunes into the man as if he understands him completely, absolutely. Listens to him talk about his brother with such interest as if he knew them personally and then decides to go with Dean towards his brother immediately.

* * *

Emmanuel packs his bag and Dean draws a circle full of sigils and runes Daphne has never seen underneath the hallway carpet, giving Daphne a lesson on demons and how to figth them off while she makes him a coffee (_'black and no sugar, please,'_) and a sandwich.

Dean thanks her and eats like it's his first and last meal at the same time and then Emmanuel is back with his luggage and hugs Daphne.

"Be good until I come back," he tells her and Dean smiles briefly with eyes as serious as ever. He doesn't assure her that her husband will be back safe and sound like most people do and somehow Daphne's not surprised – just worried.

The door closes behind them and Daphne hears the sound of a car engine fade in the distance.

A black cat, the same one Emmanuel healed all those months ago, jumps onto her lap and miaows. Daphne scratches it behind the ears and waits.

* * *

It's been almost a week – six days – when Dean comes back but instead of her husband he's accompanied by a tall man with long, matted hair and circles around his eyes showing he hasn't slept well for weeks.

"Where's Emmanuel?" Daphne asks first thing when she opens the door.

Dean just looks at her with eyes that speak of self-loathing and guilt and Daphne starts to cry.

* * *

It turns out that her husband is alive but might as well be dead to her.

* * *

Daphne invites them in – orders them in, actually, because they owe her an explanation at least – and Sam, Dean's brother, falls asleep on the couch.

"Sorry," Dean says and gives Daphne a little smile, a twitch of his lips. "He's just tired, he's had a rough couple of months," he explains but doesn't elaborate and Daphne doesn't feel like asking.

Dean tells her a story that a few months ago she would have considered too insane to be a myth, let alone reality. But now, after months spent with Emmanuel and facing a demon herself, she trusts him when he says that Emmanuel was an angel, a Heaven's soldier sent down to Earth to aid these brothers. In what he doesn't say and Daphne's not asking.

Dean says Emmanuel's real name is Castiel and Daphne remembers Emmanuel hovering over that name on the internet. She also rememebers Emmanuel hovering over the name Dean and looks up at the tired, hunched man sitting in front of her, grasping a steaming coffee cup. She wonders what did he mean to her husband – or whoever he was before Daphne found him.

"How did you meet?" she asks after a while and Dean looks up, eyes startled as if she caught him stealing her money.

"We..." Dean says and his eyes get hazy for a second before he looks at her and clears his throat, "he pulled me out of Hell."

His whole face hardens as if he's expectinng a blow and Daphne realizes that he probably is, expecting her to asks what was he doing in Hell and why would he ever get out if he was evil enough to get there in the first place.

But Daphne doesn't ask, only nods and thinks about how ancient Dean's eyes look. They sit in silence for a while, Daphne thinking about her husband lost in a life he lived before they met, a life he dreaded to remember when they did; Dean listening to his brother's soft breathing.

"I'm really sorry," Dean says suddenly, "I wish I could have brought him back to you. I tried to, but... I just wanted him to help Sam," he says as if his brother is a good enough reason to ruin someone else's life and to Dean, he probably is. "I never wanted to drag him back into that life. I'm sorry," he repeats and Daphne's crying again because Dean is sincerely and genuinely sorry, the guilt almost visibly weighting him down but she just can't bring herself to forgive him.

"I know," she says instead and wipes the tears from her cheeks.

"We should go," Dean says, letting go of the still steaming cup and stands up. Sam's breath hitches and he's awake, blinking up at his brother and then Daphne before sitting up.

"Huh," he says and rubs his eyes, "sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep," he smiles at he and then glances worriedly at Dean who is pulling on his jacket. Daphne just shakes her head.

"It's alright," she says while Sam stands up and slips into his own jacket. Dean turns to her and gives her a hasty wave, mumbling a good-bye that sounds dangerously close to another apology. Sam's brows are furrowed as he says his own good-bye and hurries after his brother.

* * *

They told Daphne to move, to run away from Colorado, to start a new life. The only way to avoid the demons, they said, and even that will not guarantee her safety. Dean reminds her of the basic anti-demon training he performed before he took Emmanuel away, adding a thing here or there.

"Wherever you are, draw those sigils onto something," he says, "silver and salt is also good. And for Christ's sake, run as soon as you can."

Daphne will, eventually. But not yet.

She sits in an armchair in an empty living room with her head aching from crying too much. The black cat, the one Emmanuel (_Castiel_, a part of her mind corrects her) healed all those months ago, jumps onto her lap and miaows.

Daphne scratches it behind the ears and waits. What for, she isn't sure.


End file.
